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The Four Arts #3
The Unbound Queen
(Alternate cover edition of ASIN B084FSD85P.)
She’s been offered a crown but taking it could cost her everything…
Lady Sophie Mackenzie might be fifth in line to the Anglion throne but she never wanted to rule. But she's bound to a demon, gifted with forbidden magic, and under threat from those who would use her unusual power for themselves. And now her hopes of finding peace in exile have been shattered by visions of a terrible darkness gnawing at the heart of her homeland.
Then the emperor of Illvya makes her an offer she can't refuse—return home and overthrow the queen of Anglion, or lose everything she holds dear.
To face down the darkness and save her husband and everyone she loves, she may have to betray the country—and the queen—she once served and play the games of power she never wanted any part of.
But can she play them to win…
She’s been offered a crown but taking it could cost her everything…
Lady Sophie Mackenzie might be fifth in line to the Anglion throne but she never wanted to rule. But she's bound to a demon, gifted with forbidden magic, and under threat from those who would use her unusual power for themselves. And now her hopes of finding peace in exile have been shattered by visions of a terrible darkness gnawing at the heart of her homeland.
Then the emperor of Illvya makes her an offer she can't refuse—return home and overthrow the queen of Anglion, or lose everything she holds dear.
To face down the darkness and save her husband and everyone she loves, she may have to betray the country—and the queen—she once served and play the games of power she never wanted any part of.
But can she play them to win…
401 pages, ebook
First published April 28, 2020
155 people are currently reading
530 people want to read
About the author
M.J. Scott
28 books594 followersM.J Scott is a RITA® Award nominated author. She is an unrepentant bookworm. Luckily she grew up in a family that fed her a properly varied diet of books and these days is surrounded by people who are understanding of her story addiction. When not wrestling one of her own stories to the ground, she can generally be found reading someone else’s. Her other distractions include yarn, cat butlering, dark chocolate and fabric. She lives in Melbourne, Australia.
For free reads and all her news and sneak peeks sign up to her newsletter at https://www.mjscott.net!
Follow her on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/authormjscott
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She has also written contemporary romance as Melanie Scott and Emma Douglas.
For free reads and all her news and sneak peeks sign up to her newsletter at https://www.mjscott.net!
Follow her on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/authormjscott
Or Instagram: www.instagram.com/melwrites
Or Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/mel_writes
She has also written contemporary romance as Melanie Scott and Emma Douglas.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 43 reviews
June 28, 2020
This was fine, but I think I was just never going to love any of the series the way I loved the first book!
Owned ebook 2/2 for the month
Overall owned book 3/5 for the month
Owned ebook 2/2 for the month
Overall owned book 3/5 for the month
May 22, 2020
So much MISSED potential. I can live with the ending but I don’t love it. This series as a whole and this last book especially left me dissatisfied on several levels. It started out so promising, book one was 5 stars for me. Book two was 4 stars but I propped up that rating with the usual concession: it’s a middle book. Book three had me super annoyed finishing at 3 stars.
M.J. Scott chose to completely skim over all the interesting details and elements of her world and story in favor of weak fluff. She imagined this incredible world full of people who can command magic so fantastical those who are strong in it can control the weather, with an alternate reality inhabited with magical sanctii who can traverse between the two realities, and a young woman learning about her own unusual and surprisingly strong magical abilities who is set up to liberate a nation of suppressed women and we spend all our time listening to her whine, worry, and try to run away from it all. This isn’t necessarily a problem, not all main characters have alpha personalities. However, there isn’t any real meat here either. Sophie spends months at the magic academy and we don’t see her learn anything interesting about her own magic. Everything the author tells us is vague at best and for the majority of the time she just tells us how much they need to learn before their time is up. We spend so much time in Sophie and Cameron’s heads but it is the same repetitive worries and ultimately weak story telling.
Sophie learns about decades and decades of oppression the women of her country have endured and she has no burning desire to make a change... no need to throw off her own chains and at the very least discover her own truth and potential.... she just wants to live quietly with her husband and raise children. While her country women would just continue on in their oppression. WTH??
Don’t get me wrong, I’m all about a woman finding satisfaction and fulfillment in a simple life raising her children and loving her husband. That’s my own personal HEA. But when an author sets up a world like this and then doesn’t really DO anything with it..... come on.
Ugh. So MUCH missed potential.
M.J. Scott chose to completely skim over all the interesting details and elements of her world and story in favor of weak fluff. She imagined this incredible world full of people who can command magic so fantastical those who are strong in it can control the weather, with an alternate reality inhabited with magical sanctii who can traverse between the two realities, and a young woman learning about her own unusual and surprisingly strong magical abilities who is set up to liberate a nation of suppressed women and we spend all our time listening to her whine, worry, and try to run away from it all. This isn’t necessarily a problem, not all main characters have alpha personalities. However, there isn’t any real meat here either. Sophie spends months at the magic academy and we don’t see her learn anything interesting about her own magic. Everything the author tells us is vague at best and for the majority of the time she just tells us how much they need to learn before their time is up. We spend so much time in Sophie and Cameron’s heads but it is the same repetitive worries and ultimately weak story telling.
Sophie learns about decades and decades of oppression the women of her country have endured and she has no burning desire to make a change... no need to throw off her own chains and at the very least discover her own truth and potential.... she just wants to live quietly with her husband and raise children. While her country women would just continue on in their oppression. WTH??
Don’t get me wrong, I’m all about a woman finding satisfaction and fulfillment in a simple life raising her children and loving her husband. That’s my own personal HEA. But when an author sets up a world like this and then doesn’t really DO anything with it..... come on.
Ugh. So MUCH missed potential.
December 20, 2021
The final book in the series, and it is still vaguely Shinn-esque, and the pace of the story, the setting, the way the magic system is revealed, is very readable to me, so I managed to, in a time where I feel guiltless about abandoning books unfinished to finish the whole series. That being said, I kind of took it as a guilty pleasure and managed to turn off my brain (something which does not work at will) to not roll my eyes too much at things like incredibly increasing powers, sketchy plotting , random explicit not-plot-relevant sex scenes and some bad editing all round. But readable (to me!), which turns out to be the most important quality.
June 6, 2020
This was a very good end to a very good series. This book was much more about Sophie's choices and agency, which was really cool to see. I would have liked a little more from Cameron, but I think that's just thinking back to him in the first book - it's quite a shift.
May 1, 2020
M.J. Scott writes well. I loved this series...but. I was a little disappointed in how everything wrapped up. Don't read further if you don't want to trip over a bunch of spoilers. Seriously, stop NOW if you don't want to know all the important stuff.
Firstly, is this the last book in the series, or not? It's unclear. Seems like it might be, now that Anglion now has an unbound queen. But then again, Queen Sophie is going to have to spend a lot of time rooting out the rot in the dominas and how are the Anglions going to react to their queen having a sanctii? There could be another book there. Then there is the matter of the sanctii. There have been huge hints that there is something special about Elarus and the nature of Sophie's bond with her. I feel like there is much more to be said there. Is Elarus more powerful because of being a female? Is she the queen of the sanctii? So many times in this book I wanted Sophie to take 30 minutes off from her worrying and frantically running around to just sit down and have a simple conversation with Elarus. Surely that was not too much to ask.
Then, this book moved too slow at first, and then in an almost breathless final sixty pages wrapped everything up with a bow with a cherry on top. And once Sophie, Cameron, and the Illvyans were on the move, every step they took went off like buttah, which I found unlikely. Very unlikely. I mean, there was the matter of the Domina killing Eloise, but that was an accident after every damn thing had gone perfectly.
Anyway, I have so many questions, I hope there is another book. I mean, there are four arts, shouldn't there be four books?
Firstly, is this the last book in the series, or not? It's unclear. Seems like it might be, now that Anglion now has an unbound queen. But then again, Queen Sophie is going to have to spend a lot of time rooting out the rot in the dominas and how are the Anglions going to react to their queen having a sanctii? There could be another book there. Then there is the matter of the sanctii. There have been huge hints that there is something special about Elarus and the nature of Sophie's bond with her. I feel like there is much more to be said there. Is Elarus more powerful because of being a female? Is she the queen of the sanctii? So many times in this book I wanted Sophie to take 30 minutes off from her worrying and frantically running around to just sit down and have a simple conversation with Elarus. Surely that was not too much to ask.
Then, this book moved too slow at first, and then in an almost breathless final sixty pages wrapped everything up with a bow with a cherry on top. And once Sophie, Cameron, and the Illvyans were on the move, every step they took went off like buttah, which I found unlikely. Very unlikely. I mean, there was the matter of the Domina killing Eloise, but that was an accident after every damn thing had gone perfectly.
Anyway, I have so many questions, I hope there is another book. I mean, there are four arts, shouldn't there be four books?
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 12, 2020
I think this is the conclusion? It certainly reads like the ending of a trilogy.
The first book remains my favorite. The second book I felt a bit of culture shock, because it took all the familiar bits and removed them and put our characters into a completely new place learning new things and divorced them physically from the familiar. But all the stuff they ran from was still looming and they needed to address it. It felt like it had been put in a drawer temporarily so they could do this other stuff. So in a sense the second book didn't carry through enough, imo, from the first book.
This third book was immediately promising because the second ended with that metaphorical drawer being blasted open. So now this one starts with Sophie and Cameron have to deal with what they left behind. This what I wanted to see and had been waiting all of the second book for.
But not so fast... the first part of the book dragged. It kinda waded into some more magic teaching minutia and things seemed to grind to a halt storywise. I wanted action!!
Finally at about the 40% mark we started getting the action we needed. The Queen was forcing Sophie and Cameron to come home by holding their family hostage. They needed to get back but they wanted to go back, rescue their family and deal with the Queen on their terms. So they begin planning and this is when the book finally starts to work for me.
I really enjoyed that second half of the book. Decisive action, fun new magic, Sophie and Cameron on the same page, and justice being done.
The first book remains my favorite. The second book I felt a bit of culture shock, because it took all the familiar bits and removed them and put our characters into a completely new place learning new things and divorced them physically from the familiar. But all the stuff they ran from was still looming and they needed to address it. It felt like it had been put in a drawer temporarily so they could do this other stuff. So in a sense the second book didn't carry through enough, imo, from the first book.
This third book was immediately promising because the second ended with that metaphorical drawer being blasted open. So now this one starts with Sophie and Cameron have to deal with what they left behind. This what I wanted to see and had been waiting all of the second book for.
But not so fast... the first part of the book dragged. It kinda waded into some more magic teaching minutia and things seemed to grind to a halt storywise. I wanted action!!
Finally at about the 40% mark we started getting the action we needed. The Queen was forcing Sophie and Cameron to come home by holding their family hostage. They needed to get back but they wanted to go back, rescue their family and deal with the Queen on their terms. So they begin planning and this is when the book finally starts to work for me.
I really enjoyed that second half of the book. Decisive action, fun new magic, Sophie and Cameron on the same page, and justice being done.
April 29, 2020
It's finally out!
I have been sitting on this one for a while because I had a super early copy, but this book, this series, is sooooo good.
I love a good court intrigue book because I am super character driven, but it has to have heroes. I can't stand the kind of book where EVERYONE is the bad guy. No fear of that here. Cam is super swoony and Sophie is a great character as well. Plus animal sidekicks for the win.
Highly recommended. (But obviously read the trilogy in order starting with The Shattered Court)
I have been sitting on this one for a while because I had a super early copy, but this book, this series, is sooooo good.
I love a good court intrigue book because I am super character driven, but it has to have heroes. I can't stand the kind of book where EVERYONE is the bad guy. No fear of that here. Cam is super swoony and Sophie is a great character as well. Plus animal sidekicks for the win.
Highly recommended. (But obviously read the trilogy in order starting with The Shattered Court)
July 5, 2022
This was a good end to a series I really enjoyed! I was about 60% through this book & couldn’t figure out how Scott was going to wrap it all up, but somehow the ending didn’t feel rushed to me.
I liked Sophie & Cameron’s story & will definitely look for more from Scott in the future!
I liked Sophie & Cameron’s story & will definitely look for more from Scott in the future!
May 24, 2024
The last of the series is a little less sexually oriented than the first 2 books, allowing for a story to be told.
Ever since Domina Skey used her - twice - to heal Eloisa, without regard for whether Sophie lived or died from the attempts, Sophie has suspected the Domina of doing something more with her unbound power than simple healing. As she learns, in Illvya, how much information has been denied to Earth witches that is rightfully theirs. amd how access to all types of magic is encouraged in Illvya, her suspicions grow stronger. As she tries scrying, 3 times she sees the same vision of Eloisa, visions that seem to confirm the domina's malicious hold over Eloisa and over Anglion by default. Aristedes, emperor of Illvya, has asked Sophie to become queen in Eloisa's place, but she doesn't want the job. Still, Eloisa has hostages from both Cameron's family and hers to rescue, and if possible, she wants to rescue Eloisa from Domina Skey's iron grip. Now able to see magical bonds, she is appalled at the thickness of the magic bonds between Domina Skey and Eloise.
They have found a way to fly the navire Imogene is building high enough to avoid the ill effects of the salt water on them, so that the sanctii can come along.
While there is a delegation of dominas ready to repair what is broken about the current system in Anglion, it will take some time. And there will be mages sent to start schools all over Anglion to teach water magic (forbidden currently), more advanced earth magic, air magic and illusions, and more types of magic, to free the people from a strict bond only to earth magic, and perhaps to generate stronger witches who are unbound.
But to do that, will Sophie end up doing what she came there to avoid?
Ever since Domina Skey used her - twice - to heal Eloisa, without regard for whether Sophie lived or died from the attempts, Sophie has suspected the Domina of doing something more with her unbound power than simple healing. As she learns, in Illvya, how much information has been denied to Earth witches that is rightfully theirs. amd how access to all types of magic is encouraged in Illvya, her suspicions grow stronger. As she tries scrying, 3 times she sees the same vision of Eloisa, visions that seem to confirm the domina's malicious hold over Eloisa and over Anglion by default. Aristedes, emperor of Illvya, has asked Sophie to become queen in Eloisa's place, but she doesn't want the job. Still, Eloisa has hostages from both Cameron's family and hers to rescue, and if possible, she wants to rescue Eloisa from Domina Skey's iron grip. Now able to see magical bonds, she is appalled at the thickness of the magic bonds between Domina Skey and Eloise.
They have found a way to fly the navire Imogene is building high enough to avoid the ill effects of the salt water on them, so that the sanctii can come along.
While there is a delegation of dominas ready to repair what is broken about the current system in Anglion, it will take some time. And there will be mages sent to start schools all over Anglion to teach water magic (forbidden currently), more advanced earth magic, air magic and illusions, and more types of magic, to free the people from a strict bond only to earth magic, and perhaps to generate stronger witches who are unbound.
But to do that, will Sophie end up doing what she came there to avoid?
April 19, 2025
M.J. Scott
Wow!
What a series!
The fault lies in needing to finish all books and lack of sleep.
The stories are well written.
We follow Sophie and Cameron on a journey or self-discovery and learning their self-worth.
Pity Cameron is a fictional character, as he is certainly drool worthy.
I would have liked to know if Sophie's dream of having a family happens and the future growth of Anglion.
Absolutely worth the time and money to read this series.
I'll be keeping an eye on other books from this author.
Wow!
What a series!
The fault lies in needing to finish all books and lack of sleep.
The stories are well written.
We follow Sophie and Cameron on a journey or self-discovery and learning their self-worth.
Pity Cameron is a fictional character, as he is certainly drool worthy.
I would have liked to know if Sophie's dream of having a family happens and the future growth of Anglion.
Absolutely worth the time and money to read this series.
I'll be keeping an eye on other books from this author.
May 25, 2020
As it should be
Mild adult content, reader discretion advised. Nothing was as it should be or as Sophie wanted things to be. The one exception was her husband Cameron. Assassins trying to kill her, world leaders wanting to maneuver as a pawn on a chess board would be moved. Will Sophie get what her heart desires or will freedom be out of reach?
I enjoyed this book. Would recommend entire series.
Mild adult content, reader discretion advised. Nothing was as it should be or as Sophie wanted things to be. The one exception was her husband Cameron. Assassins trying to kill her, world leaders wanting to maneuver as a pawn on a chess board would be moved. Will Sophie get what her heart desires or will freedom be out of reach?
I enjoyed this book. Would recommend entire series.
November 24, 2022
Fitting end
A good end to an enjoyable trilogy. The trilogy flows well. MJ Scott has done well to keep the story and characters evolving and adding more in an acceptable way.
I didn't read the whole storyline between the different series in order but I still found the plots fun to read. Each separate series needs to be read in order but I didn't find it detracted too much having read the different series out of order. I just treated them as prequels.
A good end to an enjoyable trilogy. The trilogy flows well. MJ Scott has done well to keep the story and characters evolving and adding more in an acceptable way.
I didn't read the whole storyline between the different series in order but I still found the plots fun to read. Each separate series needs to be read in order but I didn't find it detracted too much having read the different series out of order. I just treated them as prequels.
September 21, 2024
Omg
Omg I absolutely loved this series had to go into exile as she made one mistake well not really her fault but it wasn't all bad she ended up with a husband partner friend and ally to help her through things she had no idea meet people who all her life that were wicked and so much more to then learnt all she had been taught and told was not true and that she was a powerful witch earth water and more
Omg I absolutely loved this series had to go into exile as she made one mistake well not really her fault but it wasn't all bad she ended up with a husband partner friend and ally to help her through things she had no idea meet people who all her life that were wicked and so much more to then learnt all she had been taught and told was not true and that she was a powerful witch earth water and more
September 22, 2024
After loving the first book in the series and enjoying the discoveries of the second I’m so disappointed in the third. I felt like it could have been so much more but instead of focusing on world building and character development there was a rush to the end. Much like the second book there were random sex scenes that didn’t feel like they flowed with the story. I think the first book was the strongest and although I like this world I’m not sure I’ll be rereading.
April 15, 2025
The final scene, the climax of the whole series, is so lame that it destroyed this book for me. How would an enemy truthsayer be considered trustworthy? What would stop him to just lie? The fact he can spot lies told by other people doesn't stop him for lying himself! I hated the scene and as a consequence the whole conclusion. Not to mention an all powerful emperor that controls the known world that comes in person to put a free agent on the throne with no strings attached!
May 11, 2025
A Satisfying Part One
This trilogy ends Part One of a continuing series. Satisfying ending if, to my taste, a little too long to get too.
A serious decision has to be made. The machinations and discussing done is so lengthy, I found myself skimming some parts.
Overall, I found this trilogy stimulating enough to keep reading. The characters are solid and the plot (once we get to it) are good.
This trilogy ends Part One of a continuing series. Satisfying ending if, to my taste, a little too long to get too.
A serious decision has to be made. The machinations and discussing done is so lengthy, I found myself skimming some parts.
Overall, I found this trilogy stimulating enough to keep reading. The characters are solid and the plot (once we get to it) are good.
November 25, 2025
Bah overall a disappointing series.
But the writing gets worse in this one, with typos and abuse of French language (is it charguerre or chargeurre? Plus another one called something-taureauS 😱). And then it tries to be pseudo scientific with the air engine that they designed in a specific way without knowing how to get the power to fly it (??!!!###%*).
As expected from the title, Sophie becomes queen at the end, taddaaaaaaa!
A bit fed up by the style, and how she lives her husband and how he’s always going to be there for her, but she does not want to be queen and just live a quiet life, but she can’t let anything to happen to her family who were taken hostages back home and bladibladibla.
But the writing gets worse in this one, with typos and abuse of French language (is it charguerre or chargeurre? Plus another one called something-taureauS 😱). And then it tries to be pseudo scientific with the air engine that they designed in a specific way without knowing how to get the power to fly it (??!!!###%*).
As expected from the title, Sophie becomes queen at the end, taddaaaaaaa!
A bit fed up by the style, and how she lives her husband and how he’s always going to be there for her, but she does not want to be queen and just live a quiet life, but she can’t let anything to happen to her family who were taken hostages back home and bladibladibla.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 27, 2020
Loved it!
It took us where we knew were going to go and it did it so well. Loved the series and felt this was a good capper for it. Would like to see it continue. Another thing I would love to see continue is Sophie’s education though I imagine it would be hard to attend classes considering where she is by the end of this book...
It took us where we knew were going to go and it did it so well. Loved the series and felt this was a good capper for it. Would like to see it continue. Another thing I would love to see continue is Sophie’s education though I imagine it would be hard to attend classes considering where she is by the end of this book...
May 30, 2024
So this interesting. It's called a romantic fantasy series? What's that?
In this case, "romantic fantasy series" means that the series of 3 books follows the same couple over the greater arc. I really liked following the couple's story as they meet, get together, and then what happens to them, and between them, after that.
Good characters. Good world building. Good plot. I hope she wrote/writes much more in this world. I'll be reading more.
In this case, "romantic fantasy series" means that the series of 3 books follows the same couple over the greater arc. I really liked following the couple's story as they meet, get together, and then what happens to them, and between them, after that.
Good characters. Good world building. Good plot. I hope she wrote/writes much more in this world. I'll be reading more.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 14, 2025
I enjoyed this series greatly, however I really wanted to know more about a few things. Like the bond between Sophie and Elarus and more about the sanctii.
While it was a happy ending it wasn't the happiest, I was hoping they could save the queen and then continue their studies in Illyva and be free to have the life they wanted.
While it was a happy ending it wasn't the happiest, I was hoping they could save the queen and then continue their studies in Illyva and be free to have the life they wanted.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 22, 2020
I love a happy ending!
Great way to end the series, with everything going on in the world right now this nearly tied up, happy ending gave me all the warm fuzzy feels that I needed. Excellent read! I will definitely reread and recommend this series to friends.
Great way to end the series, with everything going on in the world right now this nearly tied up, happy ending gave me all the warm fuzzy feels that I needed. Excellent read! I will definitely reread and recommend this series to friends.
March 14, 2023
What an epic conclusion to The Four Arts Series. I loved the magic system! The characters are uni3, rich, bold, humble, and most of all flawed. Ms. Scott's fast becoming a favorite author of mine. Until next time Happy Reading!
May 24, 2024
Enjoyable
I enjoyed reading the books in this series. Well developed characters, and interesting storyline. I would love to read more of the lives of Sophie and Cameron. I will look forward to reading Chloe's story.
I enjoyed reading the books in this series. Well developed characters, and interesting storyline. I would love to read more of the lives of Sophie and Cameron. I will look forward to reading Chloe's story.
August 3, 2024
Well done
Thoroughly enjoyed this series. The books flowed seamlessly from one to the next. The unusual world was introduced in such a way as to make understanding easy . I will definitely be looking into M J Scott's other books.
Thoroughly enjoyed this series. The books flowed seamlessly from one to the next. The unusual world was introduced in such a way as to make understanding easy . I will definitely be looking into M J Scott's other books.
December 19, 2024
Great ending to the trilogy
Everything is as it should be is something one of the characters says twice. She was right.
Good ending, good read and excellent world building with its intrigue, power hunger characters and those that would fight for right.
Everything is as it should be is something one of the characters says twice. She was right.
Good ending, good read and excellent world building with its intrigue, power hunger characters and those that would fight for right.
February 9, 2025
This was the worst book in the series. The main character is so unbothered by everything happening in her country and yet she is incredibly good at everything. And then learns new skills immediately and is good at them after one lesson. It was annoying.
November 27, 2024
A bit too predictable and tidy, the magic is barely explored, and the characters are bland. But an acceptable casual read.
July 16, 2025
Predictable and uninspired. The e-book version is absolutely rife with errors that should have been caught by a competent editor. Very much felt like the author was just phoning it in.
June 8, 2024
3.5 ⭐️
Displaying 1 - 30 of 43 reviews